Thirteen mile ride around Austin’s Harbor Walk.
It’s day 14 of my 30 days of biking commitment and it’s the first day the sun has shone. I put on some SPF 50 lotion before my 13 mile ride around the Austin Lake. The ride began at Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop and concluded at the Food Truck Park. This is a sweet ride not only around the lake but it also takes the rider through a couple of eclectic neighborhoods. In the business district a came across a guy watching turtles sunning on rocks. Figuring he needed a little excitement in his day, I struck up a conversation. He is from Manchester, NH, fifty miles north of Boston. I told him that I lived fifty miles south of Boston. Back home we may as well live on another planet because of the distance from each other. In Austin, we considered ourselves neighbors. He works for Southwest air and was on a layover. Naturally the talk turned to air disasters and unruly passengers. Bike riding made it’s way into our conversation naturally.
Riding Town Lake Trail In Austin
Brandon won’t be able to ride his bike for quite a while but otherwise he can get around. I took a second ride today, a 13 mile loop around Town Lake. It’s a very groovy ride and naturally I got lost at the far end. Fortunately I happened across good Samaritans who got me back on track. I started riding after “playtime began”. (Playtime for working people is 5-10 PM), so there were lots of people on the trail.
Part of the trail is built on the water with flagstone surface that is easy riding. Most of the trail is packed something or other and the heavy rains last night made sections of it very slow going. It was a really fun ride and I’ll let the photos do the rest of the talking because I’m being hounded to go out do dinner. On the cheap. Olive Garden.
Wednesday Morning Ride In Austin
Day 13 of 30 days of riding.
Day 12 of 30 Days of Biking
We met a Cape Cod friend for lunch in Downtown Austin. Dan was going to rent a bike and ride with me but the severe thunder storm squashed that. Brandon and I went to retrieve his bike from the police evidence warehouse and there was no damage. He has no idea what happened but the general feeling is that he got bumped from the side and not really hit.
By 5 PM, the weather had cleared enough for me to get a ride in and fulfill my 30 days of biking commitment. Lady Bird Johnson lake has a dog park with a statue of Stevie Ray Vaughan. The lake was alive with rowing tryouts and I hear that if you don’t make the team it’s called a “crew cut.” I kind of just road around aimlessly. Soccer games, runners, dog walkers and a huge animal rescue no kill shelter were my companions on this ride.
It was bike rush hour on my return ride back to Brandon’s place and I decided to follow the commuters who looked like they were taking an alternate, less busy route that looked like the right direction. It’s wasn’t but it also wasn’t that far off. I happened to come upon a great little food truck lot and naturally stopped for dinner. I intended to eat only half of my huge falafel wrap and bring the rest to Brandon, but it’s doesn’t take a genius to figure out how much of it I saved. If per chance you are not a genius the answer is none. Anyhow, it ended up being a pretty good day of riding a bike.
My 30 days of biking commitment is continuing in Austin TX. Austin is a very bike friendly city in spite of what happened to Brandon. His hit and run incident was close to midnight. He is recuperating nicely but still has his attitude.
We have been doing lots of shopping for food and cleaning supplies. Yesterday was spent mostly cleaning the kitchen and living room. We had to borrow a vacuum from his neighbor and I spent a lot of time cleaning the brushes of a quarter inch of hair wrapped around the spindle. Today was a deep cleaning of the bathroom. Brandon told me that he hasn’t been cleaning because he is moving out in six weeks. Really?
Today was a 15 mile spin around Austin city streets. I rode to the University of Texas and the LBJ library. Tomorrow I’ll be riding to the Austin City Limits venue and the Botanical Gardens. Because of the incident. Brandon tires easily and I take off around noon time while he relaxes. In the past we would do these rides together and that’s what we both miss doing this time around.
Changing Locations To Continue the 30 Days of Biking Challenge
A 7 AM flight out of Boston tomorrow to help Brandon in Austin, who was the victim of a hit and run while riding his bike home from the Driveway Race Thursday night. I’m getting picked up at the airport and our first stop is a bike shop to rent a bike for the week so I can continue the quest of 30 days of biking.
I managed to get a short ride in today and stopped for a photo shoot of the Unitarian building. The quality of the architecture is phenomenal, and was done by imported Italian stone cutters by the town benefactor who built the place in honor of his mother.
Lots Happening Today
I was really pushing to get to my hair dresser for an 8 AM appointment. When I approached the last traffic light a block from the salon the cop cars began arriving. Town cops, state police, and unmarked police cars. They crossed my path and stopped just a few yards from where I was waiting for the light to change. When I looked I saw a kid running across the street being chased by two cops. I rode to the side street in time to see the kid on the ground with two cops hovering over him. (photo on the right above) It was five till eight and I had a decision to make. Needless to say, I was late for my hair cut. These two kids chose a house that had camera surveillance. The owner was at work and his phone alerted him to movement in his house. He logged in and saw the two burglars and the rest is history. The homeowners video is HERE
It was also day 8 of my 30 days of biking commitment. Not much to say about that except as usual I took some photos. The big news however is a phone call I got from Thailand on WhatsApp, an application that lets you text or make calls over the internet to anyone in the world who is both on the internet and has WhatApp.
#3 son Brandon’s lady Janea, told me that they found him on the side of the road unconscious after being hit by a car. He was returning from the Crit races in Austin. He is going to be OK in time, but is a hurt’n puppy now. Broken collar and severe concussion. The world has certainly gotten smaller with me getting a call from Thailand telling me about something that happened in Austin.
Racing the Rain
I wanted to get a ride in simply to satisfy my 30 days of biking commitment. I figured to be racing the rain and on the way home after the coffee shop and market stop, the wind really began to whip up it’s fury. I knew the rains were imminent as soon as the wind died down. Well….It’s two hours later and still no rain. I’m taking the dogs for a long walk and if the rain has still not arrived, I’m gong for a bike ride to the city for lunch. Mind you, I ride in the rain. I don’t like it, but I do. Wish me luck.
Riding With Charlie
Day 6 of the 30 days of biking challenge. I has to lollygag this morning waiting for the temperature to become somewhat reasonable for April. I decided to try some new areas in the city, (New Bedford, MA) and things worked out pretty well.
//ridewithgps.com/trips/8418712#postcard
I ran into Charlie, a fellow daily bike rider, downtown. He was also riding north today and invited me along. Charlie does a lot more riding in the city so he knows the “Secret Places“. It was a show-ish ride and we made quite a few stops that presented pretty good photo opportunities. Continue reading “Riding With Charlie”
Mark Your Calender. Rails to Trails Opening Day
Opening Day for Trails on April 16!
All you need to do to take part in Opening Day is just get out on your local trail. How easy is that?!
Be sure to use the hashtag #RTCOpeningDay, and share your photos and posts of your trail outing. And of course, get your friends on board! (We think a day on the trail with friends is just that much more fun.) Send them to railstotrails.org/openingday.
I will be riding from Ft Hill (Corner of Lyon St and Veterans Memorial Parkway) in East Providence to Warren R I. with a 9 AM start. There we will stop at the Coffee Depot for a snack or light breakfast before returning back to Fort Hill. The Cafe Tour people will be riding to Bristol Bagel in that town if you want to do the end to end ride of the East Bay Bike Path.
A Midnight Rider 